


Jam Session

by gardnerhill



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Community: watsons_woes, F/F, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:41:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25081810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: Make hay while the sun shines.
Relationships: Joan Watson / Marthe Hudson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11
Collections: Watson's Woes JWP Collection: 2020





	Jam Session

**Author's Note:**

> For the 2020 July Watson's Woes Promptfest prompt #4, **Hot July brings cooling showers, apricots and gillyflowers:** Use two or more of the following in your work today: July, cooling showers, apricots, gillyflowers (which include carnations, stock, and wallflowers). Poem is by Sara Coleridge.

The last thing they needed in July was more heat emanating from the kitchen. "Sherlock!" Joan called from the doorway; she wasn't getting any closer if she didn't have to. "What the _hell_ are you doing cooking today?"

"Ah, Watson!" Sherlock looked away from two large pots on the stove; one bubbled and spat orange globs that had a fruity syrupy smell, and the other emitted billowing steam. Rows of empty glass half-pint jars rested on the kitchen table. The detective wore a dishtowel knotted around his forehead as a sweatband in addition to the apron. "I'm afraid you missed Marthe. She'd been to the farmer's market. She couldn't stay."

Marthe Hudson. That explained everything. Joan flushed from head to toes with heat that had nothing to do with the summer temperature outside nor the steamy kitchen inside. "She overbought again, didn't she?"

"She said the apricots were too good to resist, and a taste of one confirmed that. Ten pounds of fruit are far too many for two people to eat before they'd spoil, even in the fridge. Therefore..." Sherlock indicated the bubbling pot. "She also left you something in the parlour."

Suppressing a pang at having missed Marthe, Joan left her mad partner to his jam-making and went into the main room. The heavy carnation-y fragrance of the white flowers on the table reminded her of weddings – it was probably a bloom used in bouquets. A note propped against the vase read _J. – Gillyflowers. Translate. M._

Smiling, Watson swept through her phone and found a site on flower language. Oh my. Gillyflowers "stand for accepting and enjoying the life you have been given… also long life, luck and happiness, which makes it a natural for weddings, births and other special anniversaries."

Anniversaries… Oh. Yes. It was almost exactly two years since she and Marthe had first taken up with each other, also after a farmer's market purchase involving delectable summer fruit. Their union was on a sporadic basis and with no expectation of monogamy, but you made your own milestones in life if you lived outside conventional boundaries.

The exact date was … next Thursday. A nice subtle hint aimed at your busy lover, Marthe. Ignoring the thumping and clinking from the kitchen, Joan pulled out her phone.

As she finished confirming her reservations for two at Aliki's on the appropriate date, her sodden partner emerged from the sweet-smelling inferno, wiping at his sticky hands. "Twenty jars of apricot-ginger preserves, Watson. The canning kettle needs to boil for ten minutes; I should be done with a cooling shower by then so you shouldn't have to go in there. I see the message has been received."

Joan waved at the damp, jam-blotched man. " Yes, yes, I got Marthe's note. Go hose off before you collapse from heatstroke, or get mauled by the bees."

As Sherlock headed up the stairs, Watson strode into the kitchen to throw open the windows; the 92-degree air outside would be a refreshing change.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set in the same 'verse as my earlier story [Ripe, Strawberries Ripe](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15029006). 
> 
> This story quotes a web page[ The Symbolic Meaning of the Gillyflower](http://blog.exoticflowers.com/blog-0/the-symbolic-meaning-of-the-gillyflower).


End file.
